It’s a Girl!

I’m writing this update on my iPhone with a doll-sized baby resting against my chest, her tiny fists cradling her face as she murmurs and sighs in her sleep.

Last week, I gave birth to my daughter. It was a beautiful, intense birth — not at all how I had planned it over so many months, but gorgeous in it’s own way. (“That’s parenting summed up right there,” my sister said. Which was after my brother told me: “Everybody’s happy they finally have something they can talk to you about.”)

It’s been a roller-coaster few days of adjustment. I feel drugged, with each moment slowed down and hazy and my memory of this morning or last week wiped clean in the incessant rhythm of that little tongue flicking forward asking to eat, attaching and feeding, squirming and kvetching and relieving burps, diaper changing, short deep naps, and those precious seconds of calm wakefulness while she looks up at me with calm, blurry eyes and I try to accept that this perfect little angel is my baby.

I’m going on hiatus for a little while to get to know my daughter. Thank you so much for hanging out with me on FreiFem these past few months. I’ve so appreciated your company. I invite you to check out our archives in my absence — and enjoy the rest of what Unpious has to offer!

Editor’s note: We wish to extend our heartfelt congratulations to FreiFem and her wonderful husband on the birth of their daughter. We will miss her writings, her thought provoking commentary and her unique perspectives while she is on hiatus. We hope she will return soon, after much well-deserved rest, to continue writing about this new wonderful chapter of birth and motherhood. –The Unpious Mishpucha